Welcome to Tip #17 of our 52 Ways to Market Your Book! I hope you’re enjoying these tips and they are helping you sell more books. Want the complete book of tips? Get it here!

How to Network Like a Pro!

Now that you’re published, it’s time to get out there and market. While it’s tempting to work solely through social networking sites, you do need to leave the house every once in a while and I promise, it will pay off.

Book trade events and conferences provide an excellent opportunity for networking with other authors. They are often also great educational venues offering classes and programs, sometimes live, while others offer them online. I’m going to share with you book industry specific trade programs, but I encourage you to look at your market and see if there are any events that you can attend specific to your trade or profession.

The largest book-related conference in the United States is called Book Expo America (BEA). The conference has moved around in the past, but for the next several years it will be in New York at the Javits Center. It’s an amazing gathering of publishers, authors, and agents. Endless rows of publishers presenting their newest books by their hottest authors. It’s quite a show.

Here’s a list of the major book fairs supported by the larger U.S. publishers:

– Book Expo America: http://www.bookexpoamerica.com

– American Library Association Book Fair: www.ala.org

– Christian Booksellers Association Book Fair: www.cbaonline.org

– Romance Writers of America www.rwa.org

– Frankfurt Book Fair: www.frankfurt-book-fair.com (This is the world’s largest book fair, held in Frankfurt, Germany, each year.)

– National Association of College Stores Book Fair: www.nacs.org

If you’re a self-published author, I highly recommend joining IBPA (Independent Book Publishers Association) and attending their annual conference. You can find them at: www.ibpa-online.org.

Also see:

• Editorial Freelancers Association: www.the-efa.org/
•  Association of Publishers for Special Sales: www.spannet.org 

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